Tooth whitening

This is one of the more interesting innovations in dentistry because we can now create a brighter smile without doing invasive procedures like crowns or veneers. You teeth function in a fairly difficult environment: with severe temperature changes, bacterial attack from the plaque and lots of strongly discolouring food substances which can leave their marks after many years of service. These yellowing food stains are called chromagens and if you drink tea, coffee, red wine and especially smoke, there are ample opportunities for these chomagens to be absorbed by the enamel. These stains can now be removed by using oxidising gels like carbamide peroxide. This penetrates the enamel and oxidises the stains.

As a reference, the shade guide held in front of the teeth is the same shade before and after the tooth whitening procedure.	Apart from the tooth whitening procedure no other treatment has been done to achieve this result. All the teeth have a brightened up beautifully.

There are two different procedures possible for tooth whitening:

a.) Power bleaching: done during a prolonged session in the surgery with high concentration gels, activated even further by putting a light source very close to it. Due to the intensity of the chemicals and the dehydration of the teeth, the colour will move quicker than with the second method, although it should not be used in isolation. To get a longer lasting result you will still need to do home bleaching afterwards.

b.) Home bleaching uses milder concentration of the same carbamide peroxide and is used in an accurately fitting night guard. Think of what rugby player use to protect their teeth but then in a wafer thin variety. It is custom made to fit comfortably so you will notice little of it when you are wearing it.

Before going to bed you will put tiny quantities of the gel into the night guard on the surfaces that will be in contact with the teeth. Put the night guard in and go to sleep. The advantage of night time bleaching is the fact that saliva flows are reduced and the gel does not get diluted as quickly as during day time bleaching.

There are a few things to keep in mind when considering tooth whitening:

• Fillings and crowns do not bleach along at all. This does not necessarily mean that you cannot have tooth whitening done; it will however show up any old fillings and crowns as being too dark compared to the whiter teeth and might therefore mean that those restorations will need to be redone to match the new shade.
• It is not possible to predict how many shades whiter your teeth will become. Everybody is different although as a general rule, the younger you are, the easier it will be every night at bedtime, before brushing
• It is also impossible to say how long it will take, some peoples teeth just take a lot longer to show a change. Two to three weeks is what we would consider the average.
• The teeth and gums can become sensitive/sore during the bleaching. As long as you apply small quantities of the gel this normally does not prove too problematic. Often you can bypass these side effects by alternating upper/lower jaw. We can prescribe a variety of different gel concentrations to accommodate your teeth.your tongue (or use a special tongue scraper) after each brushing from the back to the front
• It is generally accepted that you should avoid the strongly staining foods and drinks during the weeks you are actively bleaching for an optimal result.